Volkswagen sued for billions in the US over environment violations

Volkswagen has been sued by the US Justice Department for installing illegal devices that helped defeat emissions testing. According to the government’s claim, the penalties for the emissions cheating scandal could run into the tens of billions of dollars.

These civil penalties in the lawsuit were filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency. VW allegedly sold about 6,00,000 diesel engine vehicles in the US that were equipped with a defeat device that helped cheat emission tests. These devices undermined the clean-air regulations by impairing the emission control systems. On inspection, it was determined that these diesel engines caused emissions that exceeded EPA’s standards, eventually harming the environment.

Volkswagen has been proven guilty of using the illegal defeat devices. Additionally, it has also been charged of impeding and obstructing the government's investigation by material omissions and misleading information. The Justice Department has not decided a particular overall amount for the penalty, but it laid out per-car penalties of up to $37,500 (Rs 25 lakh), and up to $2,750 (Rs 1.83 lakh) per defeat device. This means the cost of the suit for VW can easily go past the $20 billion mark.